Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: After 36 days of imprisonment the Kurdish journalist Mr. Bahman Tutunchi was transferred to the Central prison in the City of Sanandaj on December

24^th 2008.

Mr. Tutunchi was arrested on November 18^th 2008 by the Regime Agents after his home was searched.  In a conversation with members of his family, they stated their grave concern over the health and well being of Mr. Tutunchi.

Mr. Tutunchi was convicted of working with a very active political organization in Kurdistan.  Mr. Tutunchi is an independent journalist and also was an executive board member of a weekly journal called “Kereftu”.  Due to extreme pressure from the Ministry of Intelligence he was forced to resign from that position last year.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Islamic Regime Security Forces attacked a village in “Baneh” under the guise of fighting against drugs and started searching the homes of residents without a warrant.

On Monday December 22^nd 2008 the Regime Security Forces attacked a village called “Kandeh
Sour” and set fire on a large amount of gas which was present in the village. The security forces also took many of the animals in the village including horses and donkeys, broke the windows of the homes with sticks or stones and took many breakable items from the homes and either broke them or took it with them.

The residents of this village are extremely concerned and unhappy about the illegal actions of the security forces in their village.

Due to extreme poverty and lack of opportunities in the City of Baneh some residents of the village of Kandeh Sour have turned to illegal activities.  As a result many of the residents of this village die every year under the gun fire of Security forces, or get stuck in mine fields and either lose their lives or their limbs.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:

Ronak Safazadeh was arrested on October 9^th 2007 and although a year

has past since her arrest she still remains in pre-trial custody.

In an interview with the Student Council of Defence of Human Rights in Kurdistan Dr. Mohammad Sahrif, Ms. Safazadeh’s lawyer stated that although the defence is ready to proceed, the judge has confirmed Ms. Safazadeh’s pre-trial detention on eight (8) different occasions.

On March 13^th 2008 a court hearing was scheduled in Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Courts and a written and an oral defence was submitted to the court, however no decision has been rendered by the courts.

Mr. Sharif has further stated that he is extremely concerned about the fact that The Court has refused to render a decision to this date. It must be mentioned that in regards to his other client Ms. Hanna Abdi both a judgment at a lower court and at the court of appeal has been rendered but not in Ms. Safazadehs’ case. Mr. Sharif is extremely concerned about Ms. Safazadehs’ case especially due to the serious charges she is facing (fighting against god).

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Two more prisoners in Ardebil Prison have been transferred to solitary confinement and are awaiting execution.

Mass executions in Iran still continue. According to news received from the Ardebil Prison on Friday December 26th 2008 Mr. Aziz Khosro Zadgan and Mr. Hushang Behrouz who have been imprisoned for the past year have been transferred to the solitary ward of the prison and are awaiting execution.

There is no information about what these individuals have been charged with or whether they have been convicted.

Further last Wednesday December 24th 2008, eight (8) men were executed in Evin Prison. It has been estimated that about 310 people have been executed in the past year in Iran.

NCRI – 2,000 retired teachers will not be paid this year by the mullahs' Ministry of Education, reported the state-run daily Resalat on Saturday. The ministry claimed that there are no funds to pay the pensioners.

Ali Abbaspour Tehrani, head of mullahs' Majlis (parliament) Investigation Committee  told the semi-official new agency Fars, "We have received complaints from some retried teachers that they have not been paid their salaries for the entire year [Persian calendar starting 21 of March]."

"Out of 6,000 retired ministry's employees this year, roughly 4,000 will be paid according to the regulations," Abbaspour said. 

He said that there is a budget problem and the Education Ministry is negotiating with the Organization of Retired Government Employees to come up with a solution.

Abbaspour did not offer a way for the 2,000 mostly senior citizens solely depended on their pension salaries what to do in the meantime.  

The problem of teachers' pay even for those who have not reached retirement yet surfaces at the beginning of every school year. However, the officials in mullahs' Ministry of Education pay no attention to the teachers' problems and would suppress them instead.

In February 2007, the streets ending to the Majlis were the scene of protests by more than 15,000 teachers demanding their full pay rise in accordance with the sky rocketing cost of living for the fix income families. With teachers very low pay grades, they are hardly able to cope with the cost of living.
  
Under the mullahs' rule, Iran’s oil-based economy is fundamentally dysfunctional.  The official inflation rate is 30% and there is double-digit unemployment.  Hundreds of protests, sit-ins and strikes by trade unions, teachers, and others prove beyond any doubt that the economic problems are endemic.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel's attacks on Gaza, state television said.

"All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world's pious people are obliged to defend the defenceless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defence is considered a martyr," state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement.

Israel launched air strikes on Gaza for a second day on Sunday and has killed more than 270 people in one of the bloodiest days in 60 years of conflict between the Palestinians and the Jewish state.

Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants that intensified after Hamas, an Islamist group in charge of the coastal enclave Israel quit in 2005, ended a six-month cease-fire a week ago.

Iran refuses to recognise Israel, which accuses the Islamic state of supplying Hamas Islamists with weapons. Tehran denies the claim, saying it only provides moral support to the group.

Khamenei also criticised some Arab governments for their "encouraging silence" towards the Israel's raids on Gaza.

(Writing by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Giles Elgood)